Insects are estimated to cause global crop losses of approximately $250Bn—equivalent to 15% of global crop yield. Broad-spectrum insecticides, such as pyrethroid, organophosphate, and carbamate insecticide sprays, are currently used to combat such losses. However, these insecticides are harmful to both humans and the environment. In addition, the widespread use of insecticides has resulted in the evolution of resistant insects. For example, small-plot insecticide evaluations and scattered control failures in commercial sweet corn fields suggest that corn earworm populations in the Midwestern United States and southeastern Canada are gaining widespread resistance to pythrethroid-based insecticides. The rising frequency of resistant insects and the greater ease with which such insects migrate in a global economy have led to super-bugs that are causing multi-billion dollar losses. The cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) in Brazil and the corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera) in the United States are also contemporary illustrations of this trend. Furthermore, controlling infestations with broad-spectrum insecticides also reduces populations of beneficial insects, which leads to an outbreak of secondary pests, such as mites.
Thus, there exists a need for an insect management practice which prevents crop damage but does not have the harmful consequences of broad-spectrum insecticides.